Helping Businesses Measure Results
In today’s world, there are so many ways to advertise — social media, search engines, print, digital magazines, newsletters, even podcasts. With so many options, it can be hard for businesses to know what’s truly working.
That’s where you come in.
As a longtime publisher of The Northwest Horse Source, one of the biggest challenges I see our advertisers face is simply this: not knowing where their customers are coming from. And that uncertainty can make it difficult for them to justify advertising, especially as small businesses working with tight budgets.
Yes, online surveys and tracking links help — but let’s face it, most folks don’t take the time to fill them out.
What truly makes a difference? When a customer says something as simple as:
“I found you in The Northwest Horse Source.”
That one sentence does a lot. It tells our advertisers:
- Their ad reached the right person
- Their investment is working
- Their message is being seen
- They should keep showing up in our pages and online platforms
So the next time you find a clinician, product, trainer, or equine service through something you saw in our magazine or website, I encourage you to mention it. Whether you’re at a booth, on a phone call, or messaging them online — those words carry weight.
Why Feedback Matters
While I do my best to complete surveys after I’ve done business with someone, I long for my readers to do the same for me. Your feedback helps us:
- Improve our content
- Adjust to what our community wants
- Support our advertisers more effectively
If you’ve done business with someone who advertises in The Northwest Horse Source, would you take a moment and let them know where you found them? And if you can, share your experience with us too.
We’re a small business, which means we can give more personal attention to both our readers and advertisers. That’s why we’d also love to include a quote or testimonial from a business that benefited from someone mentioning NWHS.
Your voice doesn’t just support a single business — it helps keep this entire horse community connected and thriving.
One of my greatest joys as a publisher is knowing that our digital magazine or websites helped you gain new business. ~ Karen Pickering
Owner/Publisher Karen’s lifelong love of horses began at a very early age when she wore out a couple of rocking horses before convincing her parents to get her the real thing. That ill-tempered bay gelding, Brandy, was a challenge for the young horsewoman, but it drove her ambition to become a horse trainer. After attending Canyonview Equestrian College’s Horsemanship Program, Karen realized she needed work that was a little more lucrative than training, so she took a job with Customs Brokerage to pay the bills. There, she discovered an affinity for computers and a talent for creating informative, entertaining newsletters. The Northwest Horse Source began as such a letter in December 1995, with a distribution of 1000 copies for its 12 black and white pages. Now 29 years later, it’s an online magazine and website with a reach of over 10,000 per month and growing! Not bad for the results of one woman’s dream to work with horses!
Today, Karen remains involved with every aspect of the magazine and treasures the community of thousands who share a common passion.
